WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is urgingCongress to hold off on a resolution declaring the Ottoman era killingof Armenians as genocide.
The House of Representatives ForeignAffairs Committee was scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday, andappeared likely to endorse it.
But White House spokesman MikeHammer said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had spoken withthe committee's chairman, Democratic Rep. Howard Berman, on Wednesdayand indicated that such a vote would jeopardize reconciliation talksbetween Turkey and Armenia.
The move breaks a campaign promise by US President Barack Obama to brand the killings genocide.
Turkey,a NATO ally with a pivotal role for US interests in the Middle Eastand Afghanistan, has warned the resolution could jeopardize US-Turkishcooperation and set back negotiations aimed at opening the borderbetween Turkey and Armenia.